The Special Comment: I'm Sick of Cornell post started a good nerd fight in the comments section. I am a biased Kentucky fan, too, and don't have a problem with the media building up Cornell as a cinderella story. The problem is when they turn this into a good vs. evil matchup due to the fact that some of UK's players are headed to the NBA after one year, while Cornell's players are all perfect students who somehow deserve to win.
The system is what it is. Superstar players are not allowed to go straight to the NBA, and the next best route is to spend a year in college. John Wall's next profession is going to be playing basketball, and he chose a high profile school to give him exposure and help him get there. He is also maintaining the highest GPA on the team while he is in school. While many professions need a 4 year degree to get started, John Wall and Demarcus Cousins do not. If you were an outstanding disciple in a certain profession and had the ability to complete a degree in 2 years, wouldn't you take that opportunity? Should Wall stay in school for 4 years because people who believe in fairy tales and unicorns think that is a prettier story?
Also, if you're a coach who is being paid millions of dollars to win, wouldn't you take a player who is the best in his class, even if you know he will probably leave after one year? Are you supposed to be a martyr and let a great player go, even though the system has no rules against taking him? Change the system if there is something wrong with it. If someone wants to argue about graduation rates because of players moving on to the NBA, they are not looking out for the players best interests. If an NBA team is ready to give you a multi-million dollar contract because you are the best at what you do, there is nothing wrong with taking it. A sociology degree will not help you in your profession.
It is fine if everyone wants to make the Cornell game into an underdog Disney movie, but Kentucky's players have worked hard all year to get to this point, too. It's a basketball game, and these are basketball players. And in the end, Kentucky's are just better at what they do.
The system is what it is. Superstar players are not allowed to go straight to the NBA, and the next best route is to spend a year in college. John Wall's next profession is going to be playing basketball, and he chose a high profile school to give him exposure and help him get there. He is also maintaining the highest GPA on the team while he is in school. While many professions need a 4 year degree to get started, John Wall and Demarcus Cousins do not. If you were an outstanding disciple in a certain profession and had the ability to complete a degree in 2 years, wouldn't you take that opportunity? Should Wall stay in school for 4 years because people who believe in fairy tales and unicorns think that is a prettier story?
Also, if you're a coach who is being paid millions of dollars to win, wouldn't you take a player who is the best in his class, even if you know he will probably leave after one year? Are you supposed to be a martyr and let a great player go, even though the system has no rules against taking him? Change the system if there is something wrong with it. If someone wants to argue about graduation rates because of players moving on to the NBA, they are not looking out for the players best interests. If an NBA team is ready to give you a multi-million dollar contract because you are the best at what you do, there is nothing wrong with taking it. A sociology degree will not help you in your profession.
It is fine if everyone wants to make the Cornell game into an underdog Disney movie, but Kentucky's players have worked hard all year to get to this point, too. It's a basketball game, and these are basketball players. And in the end, Kentucky's are just better at what they do.
To Nerd Up the Nerd fight article, I added the Lost: Good vs Evil image. It was between that and a Sith vs Jedi picture - I figured Lost was more recent nerdy
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I thought this was a better picture.
ReplyDeleteVery fair post Couryflurry. Good luck to you and the rest of the Big Red tonight.
ReplyDeleteBTW: You were spot-on with a few things. Why are people bashing Kentucky players for going to the NBA early? I doubt many of the detractors would pass up the millions of dollars for the love of education if they had the chance.
ReplyDeleteAnd what did upset me the most is what you pointed out: people are making this out to be a good guy/bad guy story. John Wall, Patrick Patterson, Darius Miller and Daniel Orton all seem like real jerks, right? People have problems with Cousins but he has kept his nose clean through the season.
Let the haters hate. All the talking will continue even if the Cats win tonight. I am sure there will be shouts about the refs cheating or something like that if the Cats win.
PTI was talking about graduation rates of student athletes the other day. When you look at large public universities (which are usually the more dominant athletic teams), student athletes graduate at about the same rate as all students who enroll in the school. So it isn't like student athletes are under-achieving compared to the rest of the school, especially when you consider that many of them drop out to take high paying jobs (NBA, NFL, etc.)
ReplyDeleteSpot on T-Ferg! I mentioned in my post that UK still gives academic scholarshipes, as does UofL, North Carolina or any other major University, so why doesn't Cornell give athletic scholarships? I guess they are too good for that.
ReplyDelete